


Animal Magic

by Dizzojay



Category: Supernatural
Genre: Animals, Family Feels, Gen, Humor, Zoo
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-08-30
Updated: 2019-08-30
Packaged: 2020-09-30 21:55:02
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 559
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20454149
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Dizzojay/pseuds/Dizzojay
Summary: A day trip to the zoo for the little family of four





	Animal Magic

It was a rare quiet day for the Winchester brothers, and somehow, through the course of the morning, they had managed to let Jack talk them into taking him to the zoo.

To see the young nephilm’s face alight with joy and wonder as they walked, along with Castiel, around the enclosures was well worth the two hour drive, and the sixty bucks entrance fee for all four of them.

Jack was stopping and examining every animal, drinking in every bit of knowledge he could glean either from the zoo’s information panels or from his patient and indulgent trio of father figures.

The questions were coming thick and fast…

“Do ants bump into each other?”

“Why are the zebras stripey?”

“Look at that bird, why can’t it fly?”

And to each question, Sam was seemingly able to conjure a comprehensive answer from memory...

“Because they’re all wired as if they have one brain between them, so each one knows where all the others are…”

“Because the stripes break up their outline and confuse predators…”

“Because it’s evolved long powerful legs with big claws, so it doesn’t need to fly…”

At the moment, Jack was intently studying a duck-billed platypus.

“Look at that funny animal – it looks like a duck with fur…”

“Yes,” Sam replied calmly; “it’s a marsupial which means that although it’s a mammal, it lays eggs like a bird.”

Jack looked at him with a confused frown. “Why?”

Sam shrugged; “It’s a very early mammal from a time before they evolved into what they are now.”

Castiel stood back quietly, watching his young charge with a proud smile. He was glad that Jack was taking such a profound interest in the world that his forebears worked so hard to create.

Jack was staring in wonder at a pair of Giraffes now: “Why have they got such long legs and necks? They look funny!”

Castiel decided to omit the part where God, in a moment of distraction, spilt coffee on the blueprints of what was supposed to have been a particularly boldly-patterned horse. He let Sam provide the more generally-recognised answer instead.

“It’s so that they can reach up and eat the leaves off the really high trees that none of the other animals can reach,” Sam smiled; “look, they’ve got really long tongues too.”

Beside Sam and Jack, Dean was grinning each time Sam answered one of Jack’s questions. He was immensely proud of Sam’s seemingly bottomless well of knowledge, but that didn’t mean it wasn’t open season for teasing at any given opportunity. “Hey, Attenborough,” he snorted; “how about giving those fifty zillion braincells a break for a few minutes and letting the rest of us get a word in sideways?”

He was interrupted by Jack’s excited cry.

“Look,” he exclaimed; “look, there’s a flat tiger.”

Sam, Dean and Castiel turned toward the tiger enclosure in confusion; “A what?”

“A flat tiger,” Jack repeated breathlessly.

“Flat? What do you mean flat?”

Jack tugged on Castiel’s sleeve as he led his family toward the large walled enclosure. 

“There’s a tiger crouching down low on the ground,” Jack explained; “and look, it must be flat because there’s another one right behind it trying to pump it up!”

Sam turned to Dean.

“Okay, Dean,” he grinned; “you wanted to get a word in sideways … over to you!”

xxxxx

end


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